The Dwelling Richly Podcast

Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 7

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 7 -- As a type of Christ again we see that Boaz goes above the requirements of the law. There is a traditional Jewish song called the “Dayenu.” At the Passover meal, called a Seder, Jewish families sing this song joyfully as they recount the many ways God has been more than enough in their lives. Boaz exemplifies this right here in verse 15 but all throughout the story! What-a-guy!
Here’s some of the lyrics to the Dayenu:
Eelu hotzianu mi-mitzrayim (if He had taken us out of Egypt…)
Eelu natan lanu et ha-shabat (if He had given us the Sabbath…)
Ilu natan lanu eta ha-torah (if He had given us the Torah…)
Dai-yenu, dai-yenu, dayeinu! It would have been enough! It would have been enough!
This traditional song is 15+ stanzas long and recounts the many, many abundant ways God has provided for Israel. Take time in closing to be thankful for God’s kindness in your life and to recognize that He has gone over and above all that we could ask or imagine. Why not take a moment to share about God’s kindness to you? Share a photo from your study or share this podcast or video recording and let others see the blessing of God in your life.
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Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 6

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 6 - Is it just me, or is it hard for you also to make the connections from the ancient ways and cultures to life today? Just me? Ok. Reading through Ruth brings me to a different life and I find myself put off by the ways things like courtship were done. Washing up, anointing yourself, then laying at the feet of the guy you’re interested in – who also happens to be your former husband’s relative aaaaaand your sort of boss? But then. Then I think how all the accounts that have been included in the Word of God over a period of 3,000 years like crossing the Red Sea, God appearing in fire, the earth swallowing up people – fish swallowing too! – feeding 5,000 people with some left-over bread and dried fish, healings, resurrections, the sun standing still...and here we are in this account – Ruth, an insignificant outcast laying at the feet of a man who will end up being her husband and this story is included in the testaments of Scripture? Wow. That fact – that this life was included along with the great men and women of renown and the astounding miracles across the span of time – that 85 little verses in the count of over 23,000 verses recorded from Genesis to Revelation are recorded for me – for all of us - makes me stop and get over myself and my difficulty in grasping a couple of cultural oddities. God made sure this life and all its details were recorded. Ok. I get it, God. I’ll read and pray and thank you. Thank you that, in your sovereignty, you made sure that this account would never be forgotten. I’ll pray and thank you for seeing after the big, crazy miracles and the small, tender ones. Thank you for seeing after every detail in my life too.
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 5

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 5 - Consider this: when God wrote laws for His people about kinsmen-redeemers, when God spoke of being the Father to the fatherless, He already knew Ruth and Boaz and Naomi – He knew them one thousand years before they ever walked through the fields of barley, before they gleaned, or reaped, wandered or wondered. Does God know you today in that same way? Is He providing for you today? I think you know the answer, but do you know-know the answer? Like down deep from your heart to your toes, do you really, truly believe and trust that God’s got this? God’s got you and has had you in mind since before you were even born – do you believe that? Do you live a life of love and faith that demonstrates that belief? As we’re reading through this account of Ruth’s life and the lives that swirl around and connect to hers pray that God would seal upon your heart the reality of His provision for you, the truth of His love for you, the grace and mercy that He has and will continue to have extended for you. Pray that you will live a life that shows you don’t just believe in God, but you embrace all the truths of who God is and live faithfully and fearlessly because of those truths.
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
F O L L O W:
https://www.Instagram.com/jennifergrichmond
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https://www.Facebook.com/jenniferrichmondblog
Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 4

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 4
When we notice God’s timing, we think how amazing it is that lives and situations were planned to happen in such a way. But what if we don’t notice? Imagine how many times today the hand of God has been at work to allow your life to come together in the way it is.
 
What a change we’re now reading in the demeanor of Naomi! From emptied to being filled…She is a changed woman whose heart of bitterness is warming by the kindling of kindnesses…Ruth’s and now Boaz’s. And the realization that Boaz isn’t any ordinary landowner but providentially, THE best of landowners, a relative who is her kinsman-redeemer.
 
Kinsmen-redeemer is not a custom we’re familiar with in the West. We need to understand what this means though in order to appreciate not just the grace of God in Naomi’s and Ruth’s immediate circumstances but the sovereignty of God through this relationship and what it means to you and me! Yes, you and I are directly benefitting from this story! It’s quite exciting! And we’ll learn more about this custom in our study going forward.
 
In the New Testament (Acts 2:1), the Feast of Weeks is known as Pentecost (penta = 50) – because there were 50 days to be counted during this time. This gives us a timeline for the story. Ruth gleaned for seven weeks. We are encountering evidence of God’s kindness in establishing laws that would protect the weakest and most vulnerable in a society – from the very books that so many today use to try to justify their bad view of God as a brute out to kill and destroy those who don’t bend to His will. One of our goals in our focus on the kindness of God is to equip you as you encounter people in your life who have a prejudice against the God of the Bible.
And now, as we move into chapter three we’ll see even more evidence of God’s loving-kindness. Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
 
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 3

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 3
Kindness Made the Difference...
In the sixth grade I was once again the new kid in my school. Because of my dad’s work I had moved six times since kindergarten and now, as a 6th grader, I was starting over again. As out-going and friendly as I was – and I really was! – I still felt timid and shy and worried. Sixth graders can be a mean, petty bunch and starting again was making me feel unsure and weak and tired of it all. I wanted to blend in, keep my head down and just come and go unnoticed – and yet,
I wanted to belong. I wanted to connect, have a friend and be a friend in return. But starting out in a school where most of these kids had been together since kindergarten was not easy and to make it worse, I didn’t get to start school on the first day. I started a week late. I walked down the echoing hallway into Room 23 with a transfer slip from the office that may as well have read: “This is Jana Garrett*. She’s the new kid. Be sure to have all the kids stare and her and snicker and give her mean glares if she wants to sit near them.” Sigh.
I made it to Room 23. Mr. Garber read the note, seated me in a wobbly, lift-top desk near the front, and I slumped trying to will the powers of invisibility to come over me even as I felt the stares of the students behind me. Soon enough the recess bell rang, and I took my time so I’d leave the room last behind the pushing swarm of giggling 12-year-olds. I slipped out and stood by the classroom door surveying the playground - kids bolting for the handball courts, running for the monkey bars, and already untangling ropes to jump in trios scattered across the blacktop. I walked slowly out from under the shade and covering of the hallway awning and made my way to the blue fiberglass-topped tables to eat my snack...
As I sat down and reached into my brown lunch sack, I felt the table shudder as a big girl sat down next to me. So much for disappearing. “Hey,” she said looking right into my face. “Hey,” I said weakly looking up and then back to my apple. “You’re new. My name is Noelle. I saw you come in today. I was in the back. But I saw you and you looked a little freaked out so I figured I’d say hey and let you know we could be friends.
I don’t’ think I have to tell you what relief and peace came over me that day at the lunch tables of Weathersfield Elementary School. But the openness that Noelle showed me that day led to a year of friendship that helped me grow in kindness and strength. I gained a best friend and a lifelong appreciation for the blessings that come from reaching out in kindness to others.
Perhaps you have experienced a kind act like this? Perhaps you’ve reached out in kindness to someone? Our story of Ruth is one of loyalty and faith but is marked significantly by kindness. The Hebrew word translated “kindness” is “chehsed.” It is found explicitly three times – in the beginning, middle and end of the book - and implied throughout the story. As we continue, make note of the acts of kindness mentioned in the book and perhaps highlight them in your Bible as you read and let this theme of kindness remind you of the love and kindness of God toward you and how we are called to be like Him – kind to all.
*Jana was my given nickname
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Days 1 & 2

The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Bitter, Blessed, or Both?

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 1/Days 9 & 10

Naomi has yet to acknowledge what God has actually done. Her husband abandoned God and God’s people, her sons married pagans, and she is now returning widowed and childless – but...She. Is. Returning! Instead of wanting to be called “bitter” why not be called “God is providing for me in spite of myself because I have this wonderful daughter-in-law and I’m home in the place where God can surely bless me because I’m willing to repent and serve Him.” Ok, maybe that’s kind of long, I admit, but I’m sure there’s a Hebrew word that she could have chosen! But no. Naomi’s heart is still far from God. She is home in body only – not in heart. What about you? Is it possible that in some way you may be heading back to a Moab in your life? Or are you embracing Bethlehem where God’s promises lie? Is your life being defined by a willingness to totally and completely cling to God and His ways even if you honestly have no idea what is on the road ahead? Or are you defined by your loss and grief and your need for the familiar ways from your past? Take a moment as we close today to seek the Father in this. Ask Him to search your heart and reveal to you any tendency you may have to deny Him and avoid the road ahead He may have for you. I’m praying today that you and I will become women defined by our desire to dwell in the house of the Lord and feast on His bread of life…no matter the cost. Chapter one concludes with words of “emptiness”, “affliction”, “misfortune” and “bitterness.” Not a very happy scene. And yet, we see God moving, hearts turning, and hope is around the corner. What ever you’re going through in your life today, I pray that you’ll never forget that God is at work. God is moving in your life and in the lives of your loved ones. Trust him in that today. Pray that God would continue to work in your heart to help you keep your eyes on Him and grow as a woman who is truly faithful and fearless.
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 1/Day 8 Ruth 1:1-18

Someone once said to me. “I can’t stand Christians. They’re so fake. They say one thing and do another.” The reality is – that’s true. Identifying myself as a follower of Christ – a Christian – isn’t a statement about myself and my worthiness as much as it is a statement about God and His. Christians are not unique in their hypocrisy. All faiths have their hypocrites. Judaism is no exception. Case and point: Naomi. She was actually a weak and hypocritical example of her faith. She was hardly a testimony of faithfulness much less a missionary for her Jewish faith in allowing her sons to marry Moabites or in urging her now widowed daughters-in-law to stay in a pagan land or in her lack of faith in YHVH to provide for her upon her return. Perhaps, however, in the decade that Ruth lived with Naomi she heard Naomi recite the Shema? The Shema is the daily Scripture recited by observant Jews. She may not have been living by faith at this moment, but she likely kept up some ceremonial activities. Reciting the Shema was probably a prayer she said every morning and evening and probably one that Ruth heard. Perhaps she observed the feasts as ordained by God? Perhaps she had the outward signs of faith even though when her life is marked with tragedy, she shows a lack of depth. I hope this is a reminder for each of us that in spite of our lack of faith, the world is still seeking and God still will be found. We don’t have to be a perfect testimony to point people to Jesus! Never forget this….and don’t let Satan speak otherwise to you. Naomi was imperfect, and yet God used her. Wait for it…we’ll get there.
You can attend the Dwelling Richly community Bible study at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 1/Day 7 Ruth 1:1-16

Naomi is clearly out. Of. Hope. Devastated by the losses she’s suffered, she has not kept her eyes on the God of the Promise. While she hears about what the I Am has done for the land she is not trusting what He could do in her life.I have shared in our previous studies of my own lack of hope that used to define my life. In a broken marriage to an abusive alcoholic husband, infertile, and lonely, I had all but lost hope for me on a personal level in my own life. I knew of hope – God’s hope – in the big picture, but for me personally, in the smallness of my little life, I was on the edge of despair...I will say this for Naomi, at least she’s on the right road.The journey from Moab to Judah was about 60 miles – a two, maybe three-day journey. At least she was heading in the right direction albeit for wrong motives. Naomi is about to embark on a road that will take her from the land and experiences of despair to a land that will ultimately bring complete restoration. But she stillneeds an encounter and little does she know, but she’s trying to let go of the very person who will be an instrument of restoration in her life. 
You can attend the Dwelling Richly community Bible study at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
F O L L O W:
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
http://lamiradachurch.com/
B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app